Can We Talk?
by KaliaProphet
Summary: This is a one shot based on theblueninja's story Mass Effect Reloaded. Shepard cheats the catalyst and sends her consciousness back in time to try and get a better outcome with her knowledge of the future. She goes back just as they are trying to prove Saren's guilt. This takes place shortly before chapter 7. Shakarian Shipping.


**A/N: This is a one shot based on theblueninja's story Mass Effect Reloaded. Shepard cheats the catalyst and sends her consciousness back in time to try and get a better outcome with her knowledge of the future. She goes back just as they are trying to prove Saren's guilt. This takes place shortly before chapter 7. Shakarian Shipping.  
**

**Can We Talk?**

Garrus sat in the mess pondering the whirlwind of events that he was caught up in. So much had happened in the last couple of months the most notable being Shepard turning his life upside down. He thought of her and what she had said about knowing all of his sensitive spots. At the time he was embarrassed, weirded out, and just caught off guard by it. The detective in him had been watching Shepard closely. He noticed that she would often look at him when she thought no one was paying attention. If that wasn't unsettling enough the intensity in her eyes when she looked at him would give him chills. He needed to understand, but the whole situation was intimidating to say the least.

Shepard appeared seemingly out of nowhere as he sat mired in thought. He looked up at her as she walked by and gathered his nerve.

"Shepard, do you have a minute to talk in private?" He asks her. She quickly turns to look at him a smile flashes across her face as she motions towards her quarters. Garrus follows her in standing nervously in the doorway.

"Relax, have a seat." She points to the chair in front of the desk as she plops on the end of her bed, "What can I do for you?" The tiredness creeps into her voice as she looks at him.

"Well, I uh…" Garrus stammers.

"Somethings never change." The smirk crept on to her face and vanished as quickly as it appeared.

Garrus' eyes grew intense as his appraising glance fell on her.

"Look, I just don't know how to put this." He paused and collected his thoughts, "Shepard, what was I to you in your future?" His eyes searching her face for answers beyond the words that would come. The intensity in his eyes pierces right through her, reminding her of her Garrus. Shepard averts her gaze as her face flushes.

"Look, I wasn't fair to you when I revealed that information about knowing your sensitive spots. Sorry about that." She answers in a choked whisper avoiding his eyes the whole time. Garrus closed the distance between them boldly sitting next to her on the bed.

"Shepard, you didn't answer me." Garrus put a talon under her chin forcing her to look at him.

"You are not him and expecting you to be him is unfair to both of us. I am here to save the galaxy from the Reapers. I have changed too many things from my timeline with that purpose in mind; you will never be that Garrus." It all came blurting out as she began pulling away from his touch. Her eyes full of pain as the tears that she was holding back made her eyes glassy. Something clicked in him in that moment giving him confidence that he wouldn't normally have.

"Damn it, Shepard, I see the way that you look at me when you think no one is paying attention. I have never had anyone look at me like that in my entire life!" His tone was sharper this time his voice flanging more than usual.

"Look if you must know; you were my bondmate and it is killing me that things are not the same between us. Garrus Vakarian, I love you more than life itself." The pain in her voice is heartbreaking as the words leave her mouth. She could no longer contain the tears; they flow down her face glistening in the dim light. Shepard looks away again not wanting to see his face when he rejects her.

Garrus unexpectedly pulls her into his arms in an awkward hug. She buries her face in his chest as she had done so many times in the future past. He smells the same. Her grip on him tightens as she sobs quietly. He can feel her shaking in his arms, her uneven breath between sobs, and feels her warm tears through his tunic. Garrus cautiously reaches up and runs his talons through her hair in an effort to comfort her.

"Shepard, can we take things slow?" He asks her quietly with his chin resting on her head.

She jerks back to look at his face thinking that he might be teasing her in some cruel way. When she looks Garrus' eyes are soft and not mocking.

"Are you sure about this? I don't want to pressure you." She uttered the same words that she had in her future past. He ran his fingers through her hair looking into her eyes.

"I am nervous and I feel like I have a lot to live up to, but I can't deny that I have feelings for you." His confession is unexpected, but not unwelcome. Shepard wraps her arms around him tightly and he holds her in his arms a little less awkward this time.


End file.
